Government funds, which were being granted to the Richmond Foundation’s 24/7 mental health helpline, will be stopped in November, Richmond CEO Stephania Dimech Sant told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

As concern over the growing number of suicides and suicide attempts grow, the news that the Richmond Foundation helpline will be stopped has led to many people who use the service wonder who they could contact in time of need.

The answer to this came from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne who announced last week that a new national helpline to assist people contemplating suicide will start operating by the end of this month.

This will now replace Richmond’s existing 24/7 helpline, but it will come at a cost. While Richmond Foundation’s service is well-established and well-known to people who seek it for assistance, the new government helpline will still need to gain trust.

Statistics issued by the Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Mental Disorders show that an average of two suicide deaths per month occurred in Malta for the past 11 years.

Moreover, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri revealed in Parliament a few days ago that 143 people have committed suicide since the beginning of 2017. In 2021, 34 people committed suicide while this year, up until September, there have been 19 suicides.

A source working at Mater Dei Hospital’s Emergency Room told The Malta Independent on Sunday that there are around five to 10 suicide attempts each month.

Contacted by this newspaper, Dimech Sant questioned government’s intentions on opening a new mental health helpline, when Richmond’s 24-hour helpline had already established itself these past few years.

“Why are they doing this? It seems as if they are dismantling an established service. The organisation has a lot of experience and trained people for the helpline. We have never been informed from their end that there have been complaints with the service. It was up to standard,” Dimech Sant said.

Partly funded by government, Richmond Foundation had been receiving funds amounting to around €10,000 a month to run a 24/7 service, which needs at least a minimum of five people running it at all times, Dimech Sant explained. She said that Richmond have enough experienced and trained people to manage the helpline.

Initially, Richmond was running their mental health helpline from Monday to Friday, from 8am to 8pm. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, the Covid-19 helpline, 111, started receiving “emotional” and “distress” calls due to the overwhelming situation, Dimech Sant said.

Government had then asked Richmond to run the helpline 24/7 with the provided funds. Richmond has been providing the service on a 24/7 basis since April 2020. Telephone calls increased enormously during the pandemic, from a few dozen to almost 1,000 calls per month.

Without these funds, Richmond will have to return to running their helpline from Monday to Friday.

Dimech Sant said that the organisation knows as much as the general public does and have no information about the new government helpline.

She raised the issue of the process to transition into the new government helpline, which she said that there will need to be an information campaign to make sure that vulnerable callers are aware of where they need to call for help.

“Some of these callers are very vulnerable, the message must be put out there for them to know that they need to call a different number. This will take time and these are pressing matters,” Dimech Sant said.

Dimech Sant added that Helpline 1770 – Richmond’s free and available mental health helpline, has been strongly marketed for two years to make sure that people find it when they need it. She said that this will not be replaced from one day to the next.

“Awareness must be rebuilt. Some of our callers take a long time to build up the courage to actually call. Our regular callers have been asking us who, and where they have to call now,” Dimech Sant said.

The CEO of the Mental Health Services and the government official responsible for this government scheme, Stephanie Xuereb, was also contacted for more information on the government’s new helpline.

She said that government will be issuing more information when the helpline is about to be launched.